Archive for 2016

The failure rate for New Year’s resolutions is truly shocking. Every year some 64 percent of people will resolve to change for the better. Eating healthy food, losing excess pounds or getting fit are the most common goals, according to a new infographic by Fitness Review.

The infographic examines the key factors which can increase the success rate of these goals.

2016 Healthcare Benchmarks: Health Coaching is the fifth comprehensive analysis of the health coaching arena by the Healthcare Intelligence Network, capturing key metrics such as populations, health conditions and health risk levels targeted by health coaching programs; risk stratification criteria; prevalence of embedded coaching within care sites; coaching tools and incentives as well as program outcomes and ROI from more than 100 healthcare organizations.

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Healthcare providers are using wearable technology to enhance the clinical outcomes of patients with chronic diseases and improve clinician/patient engagement processes. With the advent of the Internet of Things (I0T), wearable and connected devices are making it possible for patients and healthcare providers to leverage the power of technology to get answers to complex medical problems, streamline clinical information systems, and make informed decisions in the provision of healthcare, according to a new infographic by Tech India.

The infographic examines the growth of wearable technology in healthcare as well as challenges and advantages.

Digital health, also referred to as ‘connected health,’ leverages technology to help identify, track and manage health problems and challenges faced by patients. Person-centric health management is slowly acknowledging the device-driven lives of patients and health plan members and incorporating these tools into care delivery and management efforts.

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Medication adherence is a $337 billion problem in the U.S. healthcare industry. Patients failing to take their prescriptions or follow treatment plans result in more than $100 billion every year in hospitalizations alone, and healthcare spending on noncompliant patients is nearly double the cost of abiding patients, according to a new infographic by epam.

The infographic examines how telehealth can be used to improve medication adherence.

Medication management is the standard of care that ensures each patient’s medications (whether prescription, nonprescription, alternative, etc.) are individually assessed for appropriateness, effectiveness, safety given the individual’s comorbidities, other medications and ability to be taken as intended, according to a 2012 Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative definition. And while medications represent only a fraction of overall medical cost, they wield considerable influence over patients’ chronic condition outcomes, utilization, cost and care experiences.

2016 Healthcare Benchmarks: Medication Management compiles actionable data on the infrastructure, challenges and outcomes of medication management initiatives, based on responses from 101 healthcare organizations to the August 2016 Medication Management survey by the Healthcare Intelligence Network. Click here for more information.

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January 2016: In a first-ever CMS Innovation Center pilot project to test improving patients’ health by addressing their social needs, the HHS appropriated $157 million in funding to bridge clinical care with social services.

The new pilot will test whether screening beneficiaries for health-related social needs and associated referrals to and navigation of community-based services will improve quality and affordability in Medicare and Medicaid. Many of these social issues, such as housing instability, hunger, and interpersonal violence, affect individuals’ health, yet they may not be detected or addressed during typical healthcare-related visits.

January 2016: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) made waves when it launched a new accountable care organization (ACO) model called the Next Generation ACO Model (NGACO Model). The twenty-one ACOs participating in the NGACO Model in 2016 have significant experience coordinating care for populations of patients through initiatives, including, but not limited to, the Medicare Shared Savings Program and the Pioneer ACO Model.

February 2016: Most healthcare providers continue to lag in implementing population health management despite broad agreement it will be important for future market success, according to a national study by healthcare strategy consultancy Numerof & Associates. The study synthesized survey responses from more than 300 executives and in-depth interviews with over 100 key decision-makers across U.S. healthcare delivery organizations. It provided the first in-depth, national look at the pace of transition from fee-for-service to models based on fixed payments linked to outcomes.

February 2016: Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (Horizon BCBSNJ) announced that it paid out approximately $3 million to 51 specialty medical practices as part of shared savings generated through the company’s innovative Episodes of Care (EOC) Program. The doctors, in five different specialty areas, earned the payments by achieving quality, cost efficiency and patient satisfaction goals in 2014 while treating more than 8,000 Horizon BCBSNJ members. The EOC model, also known as bundled payments, is one in which specialists manage the full spectrum of care related to a specific procedure, disease diagnosis or health event—such as a joint replacement or pregnancy.

March 2016: Implementing bundled payments for total joint replacements resulted in year-over-year improvements in quality of care and patient outcomes while reducing overall costs, according to a new three-year study from NYU Langone Medical Center. The three-year pilot at the medical center reported reductions in patient length-of-stay and readmission rates.

March 2016: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced it would test whether a new payment model for nursing facilities and practitioners will further reduce avoidable hospitalizations, lower combined Medicare and Medicaid spending, and improve the quality of care received by nursing facility residents. This next phase of the Initiative to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalizations among Nursing Facility Residents seeks to reduce avoidable hospitalizations among beneficiaries eligible for Medicare and/or Medicaid by providing new payments to practitioners for engagement in multidisciplinary care planning activities.

May 2016: In issuing a proposal to align and modernize how Medicare payments are tied to the cost and quality of patient care for hundreds of thousands of doctors and other clinicians, the Department of Health & Human Services took the first step in implementing certain provisions of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA).

May 2016: As they digested the HHS’s momentous proposal to modernize how Medicare provider payments are tied to the cost and quality of patient care, physician organizations began assembling arsenals of educational tools to de-mystify MACRA. The federal government’s first step in implementing certain provisions of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) was detailed in an April 2016 announcement.

October 2016: The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) finalized a landmark new payment system for Medicare clinicians that will continue the administration’s progress in reforming how the healthcare system pays for care. The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) Quality Payment Program, which replaces the flawed Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), will equip clinicians with the tools and flexibility to provide high-quality, patient-centered care.

November 2016: If U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump delivers on his campaign promises, the ‘repeal and replacement’ of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) should be an early priority for the nation’s chief executive-in-waiting. That prospect sent shock waves through the healthcare industry, as evidenced by a snapshot of post-election responses to the Healthcare Trends in 2017 survey sponsored by the Healthcare Intelligence Network.

November 2016: Calling his nominees “the dream team that will transform our healthcare system for the benefit of all Americans,” President-elect Donald J. Trump announced his plan to nominate Chairman of the House Budget Committee Congressman Tom Price, M.D. (GA-06) as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Seema Verma as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

As the U.S. healthcare market evolves from a pay-for-service model to a pay-for-performance/outcome model, healthcare organizations are working to improve their ability to identify, measure, and report treatment outcomes based on clinical procedures, according to a new infographic by dapasoft.

The infographic looks at the state of data and application integration in healthcare in response to these developing reimbursement models.

The 2016 Healthcare Benchmarks: Data Analytics and Integration assembles hundreds of metrics on data analytics and integration from hospitals, health plans, physician practices and other responding organizations, charting the impact of data analytics on population health management, health outcomes, utilization and cost.

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has updated the Chronic Care Management (CCM) rules for 2017 to improve adoption of CCM services by reducing the administrative burden on providers, according to a new infographic by CCM Navigator.

The infographic highlights these changes to CCM and new 2017 CCM codes.

A 2015 adopter of Medicare’s Chronic Care Management (CCM) reimbursement program, The Center for Primary Care (CPC) quickly expanded its CCM initiative to qualifying Medicare beneficiaries at its nine locations. Today, with a detailed profile of its CCM population and the health improvements and revenue that resulted, the CPC is leveraging this Chronic Care Management experience for participation in MACRA.

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Multispecialty medical groups and integrated systems of care that deliver care to one in three Americans—reported that the transition away from fee-for-service medicine continues, but at a slower pace than anticipated, according to new infographic by AMGA.

The infographic examines the barriers to value-based care for these organizations.

A 2015 adopter of Medicare’s Chronic Care Management (CCM) reimbursement program, The Center for Primary Care (CPC) quickly expanded its CCM initiative to qualifying Medicare beneficiaries at its nine locations. Today, with a detailed profile of its CCM population and the health improvements and revenue that resulted, the CPC is leveraging this Chronic Care Management experience for participation in MACRA.

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Healthcare organizations with access to electronic healthcare record, claims, socio-demographic and administrative data, have to apply that data through all available lenses to act properly on the data to improve health, according to new infographic by Optum.

The infographic details three possible lenses through which healthcare data should be examined, as well as finding opportunities for intervention and measuring intervention success.

The move from fee-for-service to value-based healthcare is driving the need for increased capabilities in population health management, including addressing all of the areas that may impact a person’s health. There is growing recognition that a broad range of social, economic and environmental factors shape an individual’s health, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. In fact, 60 percent of premature deaths are due to either individual behaviors or social and environmental factors. Healthcare providers who adopt value-based reimbursement models have an economic interest in all of the factors that impact a person’s health and providers must develop new skills and data gathering capabilities and forge community partnerships to understand and impact these factors.

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MACRA-Ready: 9 percent said they would participate in an Advanced Alternative Payment (APM) model in 2017.

ACA anxieties aside, value-based reimbursement wielded the most influence over the business of healthcare in 2016, according to the thirteenth annual industry trends snapshot by the Healthcare Intelligence Network (HIN).

Value-based reimbursement also topped the list of lucrative business development areas for 18 percent of respondents, HIN’s industry survey found, followed by chronic care management (14 percent), integration of behavioral healthcare and primary care (11 percent), and telehealth (11 percent).

However, preoccupation with new models of care delivery and payment did not eliminate worry over the post-election fate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which President-elect Trump has vowed to repeal or replace. At least 10 percent referenced either the election, ACA uncertainty or the incoming presidential administration when identifying the greatest business challenges they expect to face in 2017.

The annual Healthcare Trends & Forecasts survey, administered in November 2016, captured year-end feedback from more than 100 hospitals, health plans, physician organizations, long-term care providers and others, pinning down the trends impacting the industry in the year to come.

A Look Back: Best and Worst Business Decisions of 2016

Community partnerships, training for integrated care and value-based payments, and participation in CMS Bundled Payment for Care Improvement (BPCI) were among the most successful business decisions of 2016, respondents reported. However, many cited lack of preparation for bundled payments and care delivery transformation, lack of communication, and lack of focus on quality as regrettable 2016 business decisions.

This 2017 roadmap for healthcare also identified the following metrics:

Out-of-pocket Medicare Advantage costs are continuing to grow and higher cost-sharing can adversely affect health and worsen healthcare disparities, according to new infographic by the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design.

The infographic examines the increase in cost-sharing in Medicare Advantage plans, how this is impacting healthcare utilization and why lower cost-sharing on high-value services could impact Medicare beneficiaries.

Healthcare’s inevitable shift from volume to value-based reimbursement is reflected not only in Medicare’s alternative payment timeline but also in the waves of commercial payors now evaluating and rewarding providers on the basis of quality of care delivered rather than number of services provided. Adding to its roster of quality-centered payment models, CMS announced in 2015 plans to explore value-based reimbursement for Medicare Advantage and home health.

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Download this FREE report for data on the top clinical targets of healthcare case managers; the top means of identifying and stratifying individuals for case management; and the most common locations of embedded or colocated case managers.